Kagamine Len and the Case of the Disappearance of Hatsune Miku's Manga
by fukuji mihoko
Summary: Somebody in the Vocaloid household has been stealing Hatsune Miku's shoujo manga, it's up to Kagamine Len, wannabe detective, to crack the case! [Kaito/Len, fluff]
1. Chapter 1

**Kagamine Len and the Case of the Disappearance of Hatsune Miku's Shoujo Manga**  
Chapter One

* * *

Kaito had not been having a good day.

Sighing, the blue-haired Vocaloid lay down on the couch; arms folded, eyes directed upwards. Light from the open window spilled into the room, causing fractal patterns of sun and shadows to dance across the ceiling.

If he squinted, Kaito could just about make out shapes in them. A cat, a leek, a fire hydrant, a popsicle sick.

A microphone.

"Aaah…"

Sighing once more (Kaito wondered if he'd been spending too much time with Len lately), Kaito turned over his side, eyes closed.

Finding shapes in the patterns of light on the ceiling hadn't been such a good idea after all.

"Kaito… Are you alright?"

A woman's voice made Kaito look up, blinking. Before he'd even opened his eyes, he knew who it would be. Nobody else in the Vocaloid household had such a motherly, mature tone.

It was Luka.

Luka was standing there, looming over him (well, not quite 'looming'. That sounded ominous), her light pink hair tied up with a blue scrunchie. She was wearing fairly casual clothes, an apron draped over the top of it.

That could only mean one thing. Luka was going to cook.

That, at least, was enough to lift Kaito's spirits. Luka was, by far, the best cook in the house.

Miku always tried her best, bless her, but… the concoctions she created were better described as 'light grey sludge' than food. And, no matter what ingredients she used, the final meal she made was always the same.

It was remarkable, really, that she was always able to get the same result, no matter what the odds were. A little like always getting a plus minus zero in mahjong…

Len was a decent cook, but his food tended to veer towards the bland side of the spectrum, given he clearly had no real interest in cooking, and only ever did it half-heartedly. Rin, meanwhile, had _too _much interest in cooking, and always ended up making very strange dishes which often made the tongue feel as though it was in danger of melting. Then, there was Meiko, who had been banned from the kitchen after she tried to douse everything in alcohol…

And the less said about Kaito's cooking, the better (why wasn't ice-cream considered acceptable as a meal, anyway? _Everybody _liked ice-cream!)

"Ah… I'm alright…"

Squinting through the sunlight, Kaito attempted to offer Luka a small smile. He didn't want her to worry.

"Hm…"

However, it seemed his smile was not as convincing as he had thought.

Luka frowned, lips pursed.

"I thought you were supposed to be at the recording studio still, with Miku? Why did you come back home?"

"Ah, well, you know… There were complications and, um… Some things happened… A-ahaha…"

Kaito laughed awkwardly, his cheeks turning the same shade of pink as Luka's hair.

Why did Luka have to ask about the recording studio, anyway…? Kaito had been trying his hardest _not _to think about that.

"You've been working on this song for the last two weeks, haven't you?"

"Y-yes… That's true…"

"And you've still been unable to record your part?"

"T-That… T-that is also true…"

"Haven't you made any progress?"

Luka's tone, although clearly concerned, was beginning to make Kaito feel distinctly uncomfortable. Sometimes being fussed over felt nice, but… r-right now, Kaito didn't really want the sympathy. Not from somebody like Luka, who always seemed so smart, so mature, so _together_.

Luka was such an adult – a _real _adult. She didn't obsess over ice-cream and accidentally order adult movies online, and she definitely didn't get tongue-tied in the recording studio, to the point where she was unable to sing even a single line.

Not for two weeks running.

"I… I guess not. I've just… been finding it hard."

"Well, we all have our rough days."

When Kaito was feeling particularly self-pitying, sometimes he felt like he'd been having a rough _life_.

"Where's Miku?"

"Still in the studio, I think. She has a couple more songs to record. I think she said she was going shopping with Rin after, I don't remember."

"Ah. That should give me enough time, then."

"Time…?"

"Yes. I'm planning to make tuna casserole for dinner, but we're running low on ingredients. Do you think you and Len could go to the store for me, to pick them up? I'll give you a list."

"Ah… No problem."

Still lying down, Kaito reached out to accept the shopping list from Luka. Everything was written down very neatly and precisely, with even the exact brands of each item of food specified, the price listed by its side.

Kaito couldn't help but feel in awe at how meticulous a list it was.

Luka… really was a formidable person…

If Kaito had been asked to write a shopping list as comprehensive as this, it would've taken him _months_.

Luka smiled, adjusting a few strands of hair behind her ear.

"Thank you. I'll just go and call Len, and-"

"There's no need. I'm right here."

Both Kaito and Luka turned their heads. Len was standing in the doorway, his blond hair tied up in its usual stubby ponytail, his hands buried in the pockets of his jacket.

The moment Kaito's eyes met Len's, he felt his face flushing. Hurriedly, he felt himself turning his head away; lashes fluttering, gaze directed at the floor.

Luka seeing him in such an abject state of despair, sprawled across the couch like an old tea towel, was one thing. Luka already knew that Kaito was a loser.

_Len _seeing him like that, on the other hand, was something different altogether. Even though it was a complete and utter lie, Kaito wanted Len to see him as a cool older brother figure – somebody to be admired and imitated (or, at the very, very least, somebody not be choked with his own scarf and referred to as 'Bakaito', as Meiko sometimes did when she was very, very drunk).

Aaah…

When Len's eyes locked with Kaito's, a strange reaction occurred… one even more potent than mixing hydrochloric acid with calcium carbonate.

H-how embarrassing…

"You want us to go shopping, Luka?" Len asked, his voice calm and casual; heedless of Kaito's flushed face.

"Yes please. I need some ingredients for lunch, and we're running low on some basic supplies. Ever since Miku tried to make that so-called 'leek surprise' of her's…"

Kaito remembered that. The mere mention of that name made his stomach churn unpleasantly.

Why, exactly, Miku had felt the need to use prunes, tomatoes, peaches, coffee beans, eggs _and _instant pudding in her 'leek surprise' was anybody's guess.

At least it lived up to its name. That leek surprise certainly _was_ surprising.

"That's fine. I have free time. Shall we go, Kaito-nii?"

"Ah, um… O-of course, I- kya…!"

A sound of pain filled the room, followed by a _thud_.

Kaito, elegant and graceful as ever, somehow managed to get his feet tangled together whilst attempting to stand up – thus resulting in his body being hurled through the air like a paper plane, hitting the floor.

"Kaito-nii, are you alright?!"

Kaito whimpered.

No, he was not alright. So far, _nothing_ had gone right today, and it wasn't even the afternoon yet.

When he and Len went shopping, he was going to stop for ice-cream on the way back. Ice-cream could heal all wounds.

Nothing could go wrong when ice-cream was involved.

_Nothing._


	2. Chapter 2

**Kagamine Len and the Case of the Disappearance of Hatsune Miku's Shoujo Manga  
**Chapter Two

* * *

"Ah… N-no way… This can't be happening…"

"Kaito-nii…"

Kagamine Len, his hands laden down with heavy shopping bags, turned to look at Kaito.

The older Vocaloid was standing there in the middle of the bustling street, frozen to the spot. In his hand was an ice-cream cone. And, on the floor…

Was the rest of the ice-cream he had been intending to eat.

The globe of vanilla ice-cream had hit the sidewalk with a _splat_, and was now melting gently under the warmth of the sun, beating down from up above. Although the three seconds had yet to pass, it was clear that ice-cream was a lost cause. Now, only the ants could eat it.

"How did that happen?" asked Len.

"It melted… I guess I wasn't quick enough, and it dribbled down the cone... And then it fell on the floor..."

"You should eat it quicker next time," said Len, inwardly marveling at how much he was sounding like Luka. "If you had, this wouldn't have happened."

"Au… I-I know, I'm sorry…"

Len sighed.

He knew his tone of voice had been a little too sharp, but he couldn't help it.

Whenever he went out grocery shopping with Kaito, something like this always seemed to happen – whether it was Kaito tripping over his own feet and falling into the fountain, or getting scared by a dog and running away into a lamppost, or pestering Len to stop for an ice-cream and then promptly dropping it on the floor.

Whenever it was time for the Vocaloid family's weekly shop, Len always prayed he'd get paired with somebody mature and dependable, like Luka or Meiko. Heck, even the sadistic Rin, who always made Len carry _everything_, or the scatterbrained Miku, who drifted off to pet kittens and subsequently made the shopping trip take about an hour longer than it should have done, would have been preferable to Kaito.

Whenever Kaito was around, something went wrong. It was almost as though the blue-haired Vocaloid had been _cursed _– and lately, it was happening more and more.

Had Kaito broken any mirrors lately? Walked under a stepladder? Gotten on the wrong side of a black cat?

Len didn't know – not that he was particularly superstitious. He was just sure that Something was up. Something with a capital 'S'.

"I just can't help it," said Kaito, his gaze still directed mournfully at the remains of his dearly beloved ice-cream (rest in peace). "Whenever I have ice-cream, I want to eat it really slowly. I want to savour it... Especially when I've been having a bad day…"

"I get it, but… if you don't eat it fast, of course it's going to melt. That's just common sense."

Len said that phrase, 'common sense', in such a matter-of-fact way Kaito couldn't help but flinch.

"Honestly, Kaito. Why do you never learn?"

"Ha…"

Kaito looked down at the floor, his face beet red.

"Maybe… Maybe it's because I'm old," he muttered. "They do say old dogs can't learn new tricks. So, I just do the same thing over and over…"

"Kaito…"

Len's voice softened. Without meaning to, he found himself dropping the suffix he commonly attached to Kaito's name, '-nii'. 'Big brother'.

Right now, Kaito wasn't acting very much like a big brother.

He _never _acted like a big brother. But, even though Kaito's clumsiness could get grating… it was a little bit endearing, too. Certainly, Len didn't want to make Kaito feel bad…

"I'm sorry, Len. I guess I just get in the way, huh?"

"Ah… Well, um…"

Len bit his lower lip. When Kaito spoke like that, in such a self-effacing, self-defeating way… It was pretty depressing.

"Don't worry about it. It's fine. It's only an ice-cream."

"But…"

"They always say, there's no use crying over spilled milk, right? Well, it's the same here. There's no use crying over spilt ice-cream!"

"Ice-cream and milk aren't the same."

"They're both dairy products."

"But they're in totally different leagues…!"

Ahaha… Kaito really was passionate about ice-cream, wasn't he? Even when he was trying to be upset, he couldn't stop himself from getting argumentative when it came to ice-cream. He was trying to defend the honour of the frozen sweet treat just like a knight would duel to preserve the modesty of a fair maiden.

Len couldn't help but smile at this unnecessarily stubborn display.

Kaito could be pretty endearing when he wanted to be. Even though, at that moment, his lips pursed into a pout, he clearly didn't want to be.

"Kaito, you moron."

At this, Kaito recoiled, his eyes wide.

"Haaa? Moron? I am?!"

"Yeah. But it's fine. I'll watch out for you. Don't worry."

"You'll… watch out for me…?"

"Of course." Len smiled, shrugging his shoulders. "Since Rin's my twin sister, I always need to be on my guard. Who knows what she's plotting? She might try and stick pins in my skin in my sleep, or scribble something on my face. So I'm always careful."

"Ehehe… Well, Rin is a lively girl…"

"Yes. Extremely lively. But if I can deal with her, I can definitely deal with you."

"Ah… Well, if you're sure…"

Kaito's face flushed light pink. He looked down at the ground, bangs falling in front of his eyes. With trembling fingers, he brushed them aside.

"It's just… Since I'm older than you… Shouldn't it be my job to look after you?"

"I don't think of it as a chore. It's nobody's 'job'. I guess it's just… Hm…"

Len shifted the shopping bags in his hands. They were starting to cut red grooves into the palms of his hands.

He needed to get back to Luka soon. The food she made was always delicious, so this little bit of pain would definitely be worth it. But, before that…

Len wanted to reassure Kaito.

Len knew Kaito had been having a bit of a tough time lately. He didn't know the specific details, since Kaito was being unusually cagey, but he was supposed to be recording a duet with Miku, and it wasn't going very well. Maybe that was why Kaito had been even clumsier, even more distractible, than usual…?

If that really was true… then Len wanted to try and comfort him. Even if it was just a little.

"I guess it's called being friends, right?"

Kaito's eyes widened.

"Ah… F-friends…?"

"Yeah. We're friends. So, even if you annoy me… It's alright. I could never dislike you, you know?"

"Ah, well, um… A-actually, I… I…"

"Actually?"

For some reason… the expression on Kaito's face was oddly serious. He didn't look like the usual Kaito-nii Len was accustomed to at all.

What did he want to say…?

Kaito cleared his throat. He looked at the floor. Back up at Len. He breathed in deeply. He opened his mouth. And then-

"Actually, I-"

"Hohohoh!~ Guess who!"

"_**G-gack**_…!"

And he was, promptly, sent flying. His body hit the floor with what sounded like a painful thud, and the single bag of shopping he had been holding, alongside the empty ice-cream cone in his other hand, fell on the floor.

There was a crack. Several cracks. A whole cacophony of noise. And, wetly, stickily… out of the plastic shopping bag Kaito had been holding…

Translucent egg yolks began to leak out.

"Oh. Of course."

As soon as Len saw this, he groaned.

Now, why had he entrusted _Kaito _with the shopping bag filled with eggs, anyway?


	3. Chapter 3

**Kagamine Len and the Case of the Disappearance of Hatsune Miku's Shoujo Manga  
**Chapter Three

* * *

"You need to work on how you say hello, Rin."

"Why? What's wrong with it?"

"You shoved Kaito over. You could have really hurt him."

"Mou…" Rin pouted, arms folded. Her over-sized hair ribbon seemed to droop. "I didn't _mean _to shove him. I was just trying to surprise him, you know? Like, BADAN!"

"Well, _don't_. You don't know how strong you are."

"Ooh~ Did I tell you that I beat Gakupo in an arm-wrestling competition the other day?"

"Huh?" Len blinked at Rin slowly. Very slowly. "You did?"

"That's right. She did," Miku piped up. "It was impressive. He called Rin 'shorty', and then Rin challenged him to an arm wrestling match, and she kind of, um…"

Miku didn't finish that sentence, but Len knew Rin well enough to be able to do it for her.

_Went berserk_.

Rin was a dangerous person…

Len was sitting on Rin's left side, Kaito to his right, Miku facing him; the four of them crowded around one small, circular table in a cosy café.

Ever since Rin's overly-enthusiastic greeting outside, Kaito's back had been hurting. Out of concern for the older Vocaloid, Miku (kind-hearted as ever) had suggested they go to a nearby café to sit down, in the hopes it would help Kaito recover.

"Anyway, I wasn't doing anything wrong," said Rin. "I was just showing Kaito-nii how strong my affection for him is! It was strong, wasn't it?"

"A-ah… Yes… V-very strong…"

Kaito attempted a smile, but it was weak; not quite reaching in his eyes. His face was slightly too pale, but his cheeks were too pink, and his eyes were fixed firmly on his coffee.

The fact Kaito had ordered coffee was unusual in and of itself, in that the blue-haired Vocaloid frequently favoured more sugary (or 'childlike', thought Len) drinks, but…

There was something wrong here – and the distinct aroma of coffee beans hovering in the air wasn't it.

Len frowned.

Was it just his imagination, or… was Kaito trying not to look at him…?

Could it be, possibly… that he was worried? Did he think Len was annoyed at him?

Maybe he shouldn't have scolded Kaito so much when he dropped his ice-cream earlier… And maybe he shouldn't made such a show of sighing and rolling his eyes when Kaito dropped the shopping all over the floor.

Aaah… This was stupid.

Why should _Len _feel guilty, anyway? Rin was the moron who pile-drived Kaito from behind, thinking that would be a suitable way to say hello. Even though Kaito was a lot bigger than she was, he was also very easily taken by surprise, so _clearly_ doing something so reckless was a bad idea…

But, Rin never seemed to reflect on her actions. Maybe she thought such things were for lesser creatures.

Len sighed, sipping his banana milkshake.

"Any~way, Kaito-nii~ It was a good thing we ran into you!"

Quite literally…

"W-why…? Were you looking for me…?" asked Kaito, peeking up at Rin from underneath his bangs.

"Mm… Not so much, but… Miku-chan has been playing detective, you see?"

"Detective?" asked Len, his interest piqued.

"I don't know if I would use such a grandiose term…" said Miku. "I was just, um… Lately, I noticed something, and… I wanted to ask if you two knew anything about it."

"Huh? What is it?"

"Well… It's just… You know I'm subscribed to that girls' manga magazine?"

"Huh…"

Len wrinkled his nose, trying to think. Maybe there was something like that. He wasn't sure. He didn't often pay attention to any mail the Vocaloid household received, unless it was addressed to him.

Rin liked to scour through everybody's mail, and would often open packages that didn't belong to her out of curiosity, just to see what was inside (that one time Kaito had accidentally ordered some kind of strange adult movie from a dubious German website had been a particularly embarrassing incident… Rin hadn't let Kaito live that one down for _months_).

But Len wasn't like Rin. In fact, that was the one wish he made every single Tanabata.

_I hope I never become like Rin._

It wasn't as though Len disliked Rin, it was just… One Rin was more than enough for any household to handle. Two Rins might, potentially, create enough negative energy to destroy the whole world.

"I think so…" said Len slowly, nodding his head. "But what about it?"

"It's just…" Miku frowned, curling a strand of teal hair around one finger. "Even though my magazine is supposed to arrive on Friday every week… Lately, I've been receiving it late."

"Late?"

"Yeah. On Saturday instead. And, when it shows up on the doorstep, it's already been flicked through. The pages are crumpled."

"Huh…" Len exhaled slowly, leaning against his chair. This was started to sound like a real detective story, straight out of an Agatha Christie novel.

"So, you think somebody in the house is taking your magazine on Friday morning, reading it before you can, then putting it back on the doorstep the next day?"

Miku nodded, taking a slow sip of her vegetable juice (even though Miku had advertised this particular brand of juice in adverts before, that wasn't simply for show – Miku actually _did _like that funny-looking light green juice… Even though it reminded Len, quite strongly, of swamp water).

"That must be it. And, that isn't all."

"It's not?"

"No. Volumes of my girls' manga have been going missing from my room."

"Are you sure you haven't lost it?"

"No. I take good care of my manga. I keep them all lined up on my shelf in alphabetical order."

Len knew how much Miku liked her romance stories. He hadn't really believed Miku would be so careless as to lose them. He just needed to cover all his bases; discuss all possibilities.

_Haaa~ Just like a real detective~~~_

Rin giggled, jabbing Len in the ribs with her elbow.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"H-huh…? I, um, I…" Len spluttered, his face slowly turning red. "N-not at all…! I-I'm just interested…!"

"Hohoh~ Just admit to it. You're happy you're able to live out your dream, right? You've always wanted to be a detective, haven't you?!"

"N-no, I'm not that childish… I'm not excited over something so banal, really…"

Rin giggled.

"It's OK, dearest brother of mine~ Even though you like to act soo~oo mature, I know you're still a child at heart~"

"Mou… You're one to talk… You still dream about becoming a princess. That's _way _more childish than wanting to be a detective."

"It isn't a dream if it's already true~ Hohohoh~"

"You're not a real princess, though. You just play one in a well-known song series. It isn't the same thing."

"To my fans, I'm a princess. They'd do any~thing I asked!" Rin smiled mischievously, eyes narrowing. It was the kind of expression that would send a chill down anybody's spine. "They'd even gouge out their own eyes if I batted my lashes and asked nicely… Kukukuku~"

Len shuddered. Although Rin looked so sweet, she had a side like this, too…

He couldn't help but feel sorry for her fans. They'd all been deceived…

"Anyway, um…" Miku's voice, soft and gentle, brought Len back to his senses.

He turned to look at Miku, his first (and perhaps only) client in his career as a detective, and tried to arrange his facial features into an expression of suitable severity for a real hard-boiled detective.

"It's not like I would mind if this person would just ask to borrow my things, but… Since I don't know who's reading them, and why, I can't help but be curious…"

"Hm… Well then… Let's see… Who could the suspect possibly be…?"

Immediately, Len turned to look at Rin. He couldn't help himself. If the mysterious phantom thief was _anybody _in the Vocaloid household, Rin was the most likely candidate.

Rin glared at Len, puffing her cheeks out like two balloons.

"_Hey_. And what's _that _look supposed to mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything. Not in particular. But why are you acting so defensive, _Rin_?"

"I'm not acting defensive. I'm getting annoyed because you're doubting my innocence!"

"Because you don't _have _any innocence!"

"That isn't fair! Why're you blaming me right from the start? You haven't even interviewed anybody about it! Besides!"

Rin slammed her palm against the tabletop.

"I don't even _like _romance stories! I think they're totally boring! Why would I, Kagamine Rin, start stealing Miku's girly manga anyway?! It's totally not my style!"

"Well…"

Len frowned, relenting. Rin did have a point there. Even though Rin was the most shameless member of the household by far, who always took things without asking (the 'Incident of Kaito And The Adult Movie He Ordered By Mistake Which Rin Opened Without Permission And Then Used To Mock Kaito For Five Months Afterwards' sprang to mind…), she didn't like romance stories. She had no interest in them at all.

So who did that leave…?

Obviously, it wasn't Len. Not unless he'd been sleepwalking. Besides, it was against Knox's commandments for the detective to be the culprit (and Len was _definitely _going to be the detective, even if Rin _did _think it was childish).

Len didn't think it was Miku, either. He couldn't rule her off his list of suspects entirely, but Miku wasn't a liar. The closest Miku ever got to lying was when she declared, quite proudly, during her days to make dinner, that the meal had turned out 'delicious' – when, inevitably, it hadn't.

It never did.

Then, there was Meiko… but Meiko didn't like romance stories, either. Whenever movie night rolled around, and it was Meiko's turn to choose a film, she nearly always picked action.

Was it Luka, then...? Cool, calm, mature, collected Luka, who knew how to fillet a fish and how to remove grass stains from clothes, and enjoyed reading books written by authors with long names that weren't Japanese that Len, despite his own passing fondness for European literature, had never even heard of.

So then, the only person left would be… Kaito…?

Could it be…?

Len looked at Kaito suspiciously, his eyes narrowed. Kaito turned his head away, his face red.

Come to think of it, throughout this whole conversation, Kaito _had _been strangely quiet, hadn't he…? And he _had _been acting awfully strange lately.

But why would Kaito steal Miku's romance manga? What motive was there…?

Len frowned, linking his fingers together, placing his elbows on the tabletop.

This really was a mysterious case…


	4. Chapter 4

**Kagamine Len and the Case of the Disappearance of Hatsune Miku's Shoujo Manga  
**Chapter Four

* * *

"Haa…"

Not for the first time that day, Kaito let himself fall like a marionette with cut strings; landing on his bed (the duvet was light blue, of course) with a _pomf._

Even though he'd had that coffee in the café… it hadn't helped at all. He didn't feel refreshed or recharged in the slightest.

Maybe everybody was lying when they said coffee was good for fighting fatigue. If anything, Kaito just felt _worse_. If he'd ordered an ice-cream float like his heart had told him, he'd probably still feel tired right now, but at least he'd have a pleasant memory to help sustain him during these difficult and turbulent times.

Aaah… What if it was all just a conspiracy theory? What if Luka had been touting the virtues of the coffee bean simply to lure him into a trap…?

A trap where Kaito would drink something disgusting, and then feel ill for the rest of the day. He could still taste the remnants of that unpleasant drink lingering on his tongue.

He wished he had some ice-cream to cancel out the taste... but that would mean going downstairs, and Len was downstairs, and Kaito didn't think he could face Len right now.

Even though he knew, at some point, facing Len would be inevitable. Len was acting as the detective, after all. This case, tentatively dubbed 'The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku's Shoujo Manga', was not one that would solve itself, and Len had been eager from the get-go to start exercising his little grey cells.

Right now, Len was downstairs, no doubt questioning Meiko and Luka about the case tentatively entitled as 'The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku's Shoujo Manga'.

He was off the hook, for now… but, for how long? It would only be a matter of time before Len came up here.

Kaito had known, the moment Len's eyes locked with his in the café, that he had already figured it out. He already knew the answer.

Kaito had tried to avert his eyes away from Len's; drinking his coffee quickly, in order to give himself something to do. But that hadn't worked out as he'd planned. The coffee had been far hotter, and far more bitter, than he had imagined - even though he'd added in about five sachets of sugar. He'd choked on the sudden, uncomfortable, alien flavor, and Miku ended up hitting on the back anxiously, eyes wide with worry, evidently afraid he was going to die.

Rin, meanwhile, had snickered.

Kaito wasn't sure, exactly, what kind of face Len had been making during that debacle. He'd been too afraid to look.

For Len, it must have been more of the same old, same old. Kaito-nii, making an idiot out of himself as per usual.

"Stupid..."

Kaito muttered it under his breath, hugging one of his pillows close to his chest.

Why had he ever thought he could be some kind of big brother figure to Len, anyway? Wasn't that ridiculous...?

Len was smart. Not like Kaito.

Maybe that was because Len actually _liked_ playing Sudoku and doing crossword puzzles, unlike Kaito. Maybe that was because Len actually had some common sense, and could work out percentages and find cheap deals in the supermarket far quicker than Kaito could. Maybe that was because Len was quick-witted and intelligent; a newer model of Vocaloid, rather than an old and juddery, ready to be junked, version like Kaito.

Maybe it was because, unlike Kaito, Len wasn't a complete failure.

And, right now, Len was living out his dream of being a second Sherlock Holmes, only with blonder hair and a cuter face.

"Ha…"

Did he just really… t-think of Len as being 'cute'…?

"I-idiot…"

Kaito's face turned red. Embarrassed, he pressed the palms of his hands against his face, perhaps in an attempt to stem the spread of his heavy blush.

It didn't work. It _never _worked.

Sighing, Kaito turned on his side; curling up in the shape of an apostrophe, like a cat in a basket.

Any second now, Len was going to finish questioning his other two suspects. He'd finish with them, and then… he would come up to see him.

Kaito wondered what he would do. What he would say. How he could explain himself. What excuses he could give.

But… it was difficult. It was hard to think of a suitable explanation for his actions, when not even Kaito himself knew why he'd starting stealing Miku's manga.

Lately, Kaito often found himself pre-mediating any potential conversations he might have with Len; running various topics of conversation in his head, trying to think of interesting things to say, before he actually approached the younger Vocaloid. He didn't know why.

Maybe he wanted to sound intelligent. It would make a nice change from the norm.

But it never worked.

Just like his fruitless attempts to stem the steady onslaught of red spreading across his face, it was futile.

Kaito had always been clumsy, both physically _and _verbally. He never knew the right thing to say.

Was that why Kaito had started to read Miku's shoujo stories, then? In those stories, the main heroines were always plain girls with no special features; bad at cooking, bad at sports, bad at school.

And yet, despite their failings (of which there were many), these girls were always able to rise to the occasion. Whether it was winning a competition, saving the world, or winning the heart of their love interest… these girls were always able to excel – and they always had happy endings.

Kaito flipped idly flipped through a volume of _A Cherry-Blossom Colored Kiss_, the nearest manga to hand, which had been lying on his bed.

The art was pretty cute. Maybe the eyes were a little too big, but the outfits and the expressions and the way the characters interacted really was too adorable.

Right now, he was at the part where Yuuna told Seitarou about her real feelings for him, underneath the swirling canopy of falling cherry petals.

Kaito hadn't read up the end of this one yet, but he knew, more or less, how it was going to go. These kinds of stories always followed that kind of formula.

He would accept her feelings… and, it would turn out, he felt the same way.

A perfect ending.

Kaito liked that. The cute, sparkly, sweet land of shoujo manga seemed especially comforting to him – a second-rate Vocaloid with far, far fewer fans than Miku, Rin or Len; a clumsy fool who only ever seemed to annoy and upset people, no matter how hard he tried.

But, he _did _try.

Like a girl in a shoujo manga… Kaito always did his best.

But it wasn't good enough.

Even though Kaito wanted to finish recording up that romantic duet with Miku… he hadn't been able to. For two weeks, he'd been struggling.

Even though Kaito wanted to become a cool big brother, dependable and reliable, somebody that Len could look up to… he never quite managed to make it.

Today, as well, he'd just made a mess… dropping his ice-cream, then dropping the shopping. He broke all the eggs. And Len had sighed.

Kaito didn't like that. He didn't want it.

He didn't want to be a burden.

And yet…

"Kaito-nii. It's me. Can I come in?"

The sound of knocking, mingled with Len's voice, made Kaito sit upright on the bed. Hurriedly, he tried to stuff the incriminating volume of _A Cherry-Colored Kiss _under his duvet, but he already knew it was useless.

Len was going to come in. And Len was going to find out.

And Kaito _still _hadn't thought of a suitable excuse.

Maybe he could say Neru had made him do it, as part of some unpleasant prank against Miku. With her furrowed brows and scowling face, Neru could make anybody do _anything._

But Kaito had never been very good at lying.


	5. Chapter 5

**Kagamine Len and the Case of the Disappearance of Hatsune Miku's Shoujo Manga  
**Chapter Five

* * *

"So…"

"So…?"

"Well…"

"Ah…"

Kaito looked down at his lap. His bangs, hanging in front of his eyes, cast his face in shadow.

Even though he couldn't see Len, he could feel him, although their bodies weren't touching. It was the literal kind of 'feeling'. Rather, Kaito could… sense him, almost. A little like the feeling you sometimes got just before it started to rain.

The younger Vocaloid was sitting on the edge of Kaito's bed, just inches away from Kaito himself; the light blue duvet rucked up underneath him.

What kind of expression was Len making?

Kaito didn't know.

He didn't want to.

That would be… far too embarrassing…

"So, Kaito-nii…" Len cleared his throat, coughing into his fist.

Kaito's body stiffened. Was Len drawing this interrogation out, simply for the sake of being dramatic? What was he waiting for – a bolt of lightening to flash outside the window, and for Kaito to break down, manically laughing 'yes! It was me all along!'

Kaito was a little sorry to steal Len's metaphorical thunder, but he wasn't going to do something so shameless. This was already… shameless enough…

"The person who took Miku's manga… was you…?"

And there it was. The moment Kaito had been waiting for. The words pierced through his chest more effectively than an arrow.

"Ah, um… I…"

Kaito floundered. His face turned redder and redder.

He wanted to refute it, but it was impossible. That volume of _A Cherry-Colored Kiss _was still lying on his bed, the cursed thing. How could he wriggle out of this one?

He could blame Neru. Hadn't he thought of that already?

…A sudden vision flashed through Kaito's mind, of Neru standing over his limp, lifeless body, one hand on her hip, taking a photo of his complete and utter defeat with the other. A photo she'd caption 'A PERVERT GETS PUNISHED' and then send to every single newspaper and news station within a fifty mile radius.

…He wasn't going to say it was Neru.

When it came to Len, lying was impossible. Len was much smarter than Kaito, after all. Len could see through such ploys in a matter of milliseconds.

Seeing no other way out of this predicament, Kaito could only confess quietly, his hands linked together in his lap.

"Y-you're right. It, um…" A pause. "It was me…"

"…Oh."

"Yeah…"

"…"

"…"

There was a long silence. Kaito shifted on the bed awkwardly.

"….Sorry?"

Len frowned, running one hand through his hair.

"You don't need to apologize. I'm just confused."

"C-confused?"

At least confused was better than disappointed. That would be like being back in the recording studio again; Master in his dark black suit and tie, Kaito trembling, standing by the mic.

"_I'm not upset with you, Kaito. I realise these recordings can be stressful. However… You're a Vocaloid. You were created to make music. If you're unable to sing, then you're unable to carry out your purpose for even being alive."_

"_M-master…"_

"_It's not as though you're alone. This is meant to be a duet with Miku. If you keep messing up, you'll make things difficult for Miku, too."_

"_I know… I know, M-master, but…"_

_Kaito let his head hang, his gaze directed downwards towards the floor._

_He seemed to be looking at the floor at lot lately._

_Honestly. What was wrong with him?_

_Even though this wasn't a particularly difficult song, and he knew his part off by heart, having practised it with Miku several times already… for some reason, as soon as he was in the pristine white recording studio, standing by the mic, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He opened his mouth, but no words came out._

_He couldn't sing a note._

"_Kaito-nii… Are you sick?" asked Miku, resting one hand on his shoulder; peering up at him from underneath his bangs._

_Worry. Miku was clearly concerned about his wellbeing._

"_I… I-I'm alright, I'm not sick…"_

"_Are you sure?"_

"_I… I'm sure…"_

_More than Master's evident disapproval… the look of worry in Miku's eyes really was too much._

_He didn't deserve it. Kaito knew he didn't. By being unable to sing his part in this duet, he was making things difficult on Miku, too. And yet, even though he was just holding her back… Being a burden, as per usual, typical 'Bakaito'… She was acting so gentle. So concerned._

_Useless._

_He really was… useless…_

_Master sighed, arms folded._

"_It's alright, Kaito. Really. I can wait for you, and I'm not mad. I'm just… disappointed, that's all."_

But Kaito didn't want to disappoint anybody anymore – least of all Len. That would just be too much. What kind of example would that be setting, anyway?

"Why did you take Miku's manga?" asked Len. A fair question. "Miku would've let you borrow them if you'd asked. You didn't need to steal them."

"I… I know, I-I just… It was, um…" Kaito bit his lower lip. "Embarrassing…"

Again, Len ran his hands through his hair. Maybe he thought this gesture was a particularly 'detective'-y thing to do, because Kaito swore he was doing it more than usual.

It made Kaito wonder, just idly, why Len, who so often loved to organise and order things (the socks in his drawer were all arranged by color), was comfortable with having such flyaway hair.

Maybe he didn't want to look like Rin.

"Why was it embarrassing?" asked Len.

"Because it's, you know… for girls," Kaito replied, his voice faltering. "And I'm not a girl."

"I know you're not a girl, but that doesn't mean you can't read girls' manga. Meiko likes action movies, and those are usually aimed at guys, right?"

"I know that, but… But…"

_Meiko is far more self-confident than I am, so she doesn't fuss over stupid things that don't really matter,_ thought Kaito, but he didn't say it.

"I mean…" Len frowned. "I'd get being embarrassed if you wanted to borrow something like that from Rin. She really _would_ tease you. But Miku definitely wouldn't."

Kaito knew. He got it. But, at the same time… Just asking for them, outright, had seemed… strange.

Why had it seemed strange? What was his motive for taking them in the first place?

He wasn't sure. That's what made it so confusing.

"Besides." Len offered Kaito a small smile, which was probably supposed to be reassuring. Rather than reassure, it made Kaito's stomach flop around like a pancake – but it was the thought that counted, he supposed. "It was research, right?"

_Huh? What? Slow down a second…_

"Research?"

"Yeah. If my hypothesis is correct… then, you started reading Miku's manga so you could research about romance. About love. Because you're supposed to be recording that romantic duet with Miku, right? And what better way to get a grasp on the workings of romance than by reading a girls' manga? After all…"

Len grinned proudly, as though he'd just won a hand of blackjack by bluffing. It was an expression most unlike the ones Len usually wore; self-assured and cocky, slightly reminiscent of Rin when the Vocaloid family gathered together to play cards.

Kaito wasn't sure why, exactly, but… that smile twisting the corners of Len's lips, which could only be described as a smirk, made his face feel hot.

Deftly, Len picked up the volume of _A Cherry-Blossom Colored Kiss _on Kaito's bed, holding it up in one hand as a piece of evidence. He looked as though he was presenting it in court.

Wah…

At that moment, Len really did look cool. Kaito almost forgot Len was younger than him for a few seconds.

"Miku has a_ lot_ of shoujo manga, in lots of different genres."

"S-she does?" Kaito asked meekly.

Len nodded. His smile didn't waver. "Yeah. I checked out her shelves earlier. Most people assume 'shoujo' means 'romance', but that isn't always the case. There are a lot of stories that fall under the 'shoujo' label, including magical girl series, comedies, tragedies and historical dramas."

"A-ah… I-I see…"

"But the only manga missing from Miku's shelves were romance stories. The other series hadn't been touched. And, in Miku's weekly volume of Shoujo Beat, only the romance stories had clearly been thumbed through. The girls' stories that weren't centred around romance, or had romance as a sub-plot rather than the main focus, hadn't been looked at. And, based on these pieces of evidence…"

His smile widening, just like a wolf that had cornered a sheep, Len stabbed a finger in Kaito's direction.

"Your motive for stealing Miku's romance manga, Kaito, was_ research_! You wanted to read more about love so you could perform well during your romantic duet with Miku!"

"B-but, if that was true… W-why didn't I just tell her about my plan?"

"Because you wanted it to be a surprise. You were planning on studying hard, then delivering an emotional performance that would catch her, and Master, completely off-guard. I know you haven't been asked to record many songs lately, so you wanted to make the most of the single opportunity, even though it meant you had to take more time to prepare yourself. Isn't that right?!"

Aah…

When Len said it like that, it seemed to make sense. It was a motive for theft that'd hold up in any real detective story (although Kaito doubted any real detective stories would centre around the relatively harmless theft of a few volumes of romance manga. There hadn't been a grisly murder, bloody fingerprints left in the shower, or a femme fatale with a bondage fetish anywhere… Unless you were counting Meiko for the last one, obviously).

However…

Even though the motive Len had made for Kaito was watertight, flawless, completely perfect… it didn't quite ring true.

Kaito… couldn't quite believe it.

"I… I'm sorry, Len…"

"Huh?" Len frowned, eyebrows furrowed. That cocksure smile faltered slightly, revealing unease. "Why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything wrong."

"I, um…"

"I found out why you took the manga and there's no harm done," said Len. "Next time, you should just ask Miku's permission before you borrow her things. She won't be mad at you."

"I know that. I know Miku wouldn't be mad. It's just, you… Ah…"

Kaito sighed. Why were words so _difficult_? For Len, they seemed to come so easily – especially when he'd been piecing together that motive. He'd spoken quickly, face flushed, eyes shining, excited, just like a real detective.

He'd _shone._

During those moments, when he'd been playing as a detective, a little Sherlock Holmes… he really had looked… dazzling.

Just looking at him had made Kaito's heartbeat increase; his BPM skyrocketing.

And, ironically enough… it had been Len himself, whilst delivering his theory on Kaito's potential motive, who had undone his own reasoning. Because, at that moment…

Kaito knew.

He knew why he'd stolen Miku's manga.

He knew why he'd only been reading romances.

And he knew, too… why he'd been unable to sing that duet with Miku.

It was because of Len.

This whole time… it had been because of Len.


	6. Chapter 6

**Kagamine Len and the Case of the Disappearance of Hatsune Miku's Shoujo Manga  
**Chapter Six 

* * *

"Huh? W-what do you mean…?"

Len stared up at Kaito with wide eyes, his shoulders trembling. Was that simply from the shock of his hypothesis been proved wrong, or… was it something else?

Kaito didn't know. But he _did _know, for whatever worrying reason… he had found Len strangely appealing when he'd been pointing his finger at him, trying to pin down the motive for his crime.

And that single thought was the final puzzle piece Kaito needed to finally understand his own feelings.

Why had he taken the shoujo manga? It had nothing to do with his duet with Miku. In fact, Miku had been the very last person on his mind.

"I-I, um, well… A-ahaha…"

Laughing awkwardly, Kaito attempted to keep his gaze focused on Len – though it was proving to be difficult. He wanted nothing more than to bury his head under his duvet.

To run away.

But… he couldn't do that. Not anymore.

If he backed down now… his act of petty theft would become completely pointless… and the budding detective Kagamine Len would never, truly, be able to crack his first case: The Case of the Disappearance of Hatsune Miku's Shoujo Manga.

And Kaito knew how much this exercise mattered to Len, silly though it was. He knew how much Len cared.

How could Kaito take the solution of this mystery away from Len, when Len so desperately wanted to know what it was…?

He couldn't… be so cruel…

Even if it was… embarrassing…

"I… I… M-maybe I didn't realise it myself at the time, so… I-It makes sense if y-you couldn't understand my motive either. But you were forgetting something."

"Forgetting what?"

"The person you were trying to think of a motive for… Isn't very logical himself." Kaito admitted this with a flushed face, his eyelashes trembling. "I'm not smart like you, Len, so… My reasons for doing things… a-are never going to be as good as any reasons you could think up."

"Then…"

"T-then…?"

"Why did you do it, Kaito-nii…?"

Len leant forwards on the bed, staring up at Kaito with expectant eyes.

The weight of that gaze was enough to make Kaito's skin prickle, but he tried to remain stoic. He wasn't going to crack now. Then, this really _would _end up like one of those manic confession scenes in a film noir, and Kaito didn't want his feelings to come across like that.

That was why he'd stolen the manga, after all.

"I… W-well, it… U-um… H-how do I phrase it…? I-I just…" A sigh. "I-I've never been good at expressing myself, y-you know…?"

"Yes, I know," said Len. "I'm aware of that. You're making it very apparent."

"A-ahaha… I-I suppose." Kaito laughed awkwardly, his blush intensifying. "A-and anyway, um… I-In shoujo manga, the heroines in that… O-often, they have things they want to say… L-like, um… Y-you know…"

Oh God. Was he really going to have to say this?

If the look on Len's face wasn't so intense, maybe he_ would_ have suddenly changed tactics and tried to pin it all on Neru, regardless of the very real possibility that she might gut him for it.

But Kaito couldn't lie. Not to Len.

Not right now.

"In those stories, the girls, um… U-usually they… h-have feelings for boys they like, right…?"

Len nodded his head slowly, arms folded.

"They want to confess, you mean?"

"T-that's right."

"…But that's just what I said before," said Len. "It was research. Research for the romantic duet, right?"

"N-no. I mean, um… I-I suppose, maybe, um… I suppose it _was_ research, but…"

"But?"

This really was difficult. Saying this to Len, trying to order his own jumbled feelings… was even harder than picking between chocolate or pistachio ice-cream.

And for Kaito, the great ice-cream connoisseur, that was a lot trickier than it sounded.

"I mean, it _was_ research, but not for the love song with Miku! R-rather, it was… I was, um… Researching how I, myself, could confess my feelings… to the person I like… w-without getting tongue-tied and flustered, a-and looking like a complete idiot… Ahaha…"

_Although it might be too late for that already_, thought Kaito glumly.

…

…

…

_Ah… It's suddenly gone very silent._

_Why is Len looking at me like that…?_

"So, what you're saying is…" Len spoke slowly, deliberately. "You… like somebody, Kaito-nii?"

Kaito couldn't say anything. He could only nod his head.

"Who is it?"

"A-ah… W-well I, um… A-au…"

"Is it Meiko?"

"N-no…!"

"Miku?"

"N-not her, either."

"Luka?"

"N-no…"

Len's eyes widened in alarm. "Not _Rin_?"

"N-no, of course not…! Ah…" Checking himself, his face pink, Kaito tried to amend his previous statement; hoping it didn't sound too harsh. "It's not as though I dislike Rin, not in particular, it's just… S-she can be quite a difficult person to deal with sometimes, a-and she makes fun of me a lot, a-and, um… I-I don't think that kind of relationship would work out."

"Yeah." Seeming relieved, Len allowed himself a small smile. "She'd totally take advantage of you. She'd send you out on errands all the time, and she'd probably make fun of you even more than usual."

Kaito shuddered.

Becoming Rin's boyfriend sounded like an even greater challenge than scaling Mt. Everest… At least, in one of the above activities, it wasn't _guaranteed _that you'd end up dead.

"But, then…"

The smile faded from Len's face. In its place reigned confusion; a look completely unbefitting for a self-proclaimed detective.

"Who else would it be? Who else could you possibly want to confess to?"

Kaito scratched his cheek with one finger, eyes darting about like goldfish in a bowl. The dark blue nail polish on his nails shone under the dim sunlight that criss-crossed the floor of his bedroom.

"Ah… W-well, um, i-it… I-it's a person… who I really admire. A person I think… is really cool… W-who's kind and helpful, and tries hard not to get too annoyed at me when I do foolish things… but isn't too serious, and get excited about small things, too. A really smart person."

Kaito smiled shyly, blinking up at Len from underneath his eyelashes.

"A person who's such a great detective, he should've been able to figure it out for himself by now."

"A-ah… H-he…?"

"Yes. 'He'."

"…"

"…"

"…"

Once more, silence reigned. Len stared at Kaito, unmoving, his eyes slightly too wide. It looked as though he was trying to process what Kaito had just said to him – which was understandable. Kaito would've been shocked if the situation were reversed.

His heart hammering in his chest so hard Kaito worried it might burst… Kaito squeezed his eyes shut.

He had to keep going. He couldn't stop with such a half-hearted, lukewarm confession now.

Not after he'd read all of those romance stories.

"T-to tell you the truth… T-this whole time, I… U-um… T-the person I really like… T-the person that I like more than anybody is… is…"

A pause.

"The person I like the most… is you, Len."


	7. Chapter 7

**Kagamine Len and the Case of the Disappearance of Hatsune Miku's Shoujo Manga  
**Chapter Seven

* * *

"Y-you… You like _me_…?"

"I… I guess so…"

"But… But…" Len blinked, his gaze shifting this way and that; evidently uncomfortable, unsure where to rest his eyes. "B-but _why_?"

It was a single statement; short and simple.

Nice.

Kaito wished he was able to retreat like that when things were getting too much for his brain to handle, rather than spilling out a torrent of utterly meaningless phrases simply to fill the silence.

If Len were the general in an army, he'd be able to plan several steps ahead; always able to guide his troops away from the fray when they were in a pinch. He was conservative like that.

Kaito, on the other hand, would surely end up guiding all of his men into death and certain disaster. It was an inevitable outcome, really.

Disaster was _always _inevitable when Kaito was involved.

"I… I don't really know…" Kaito admitted, his cheeks light pink. "For the reasons I said before. B-because you… Y-you're… kind of cool, I guess."

"Cool?" Len stared at Kaito in shock, his mouth falling open. "Are you sure you're talking about me here?"

"I-I guess… W-who else would you be if you weren't Len? You're not an imposter, are you?"

Suddenly, a rather unpleasant idea popped into Kaito's mind.

"W-wait a minute…! Y-you're not actually Rin in a disguise, are you…?! Y-you're not going to video tape this confession and post it online, r-right?"

"…No, of course not. That's stupid. Why would I do something like that?"

"Ah…" Kaito's cheeks turned even pinker. "I guess it _is_ a little stupid. You're right."

"Besides, nobody video tapes things nowadays. They can just record stuff on their phones."

"T-That… is also right…"

Kaito sighed. He was starting to feel old. Like an embarrassing uncle at a party.

"B-but if you started… l-liking me… because you think I'm 'cool'… I'd feel guilty."

"Guilty?"

"Mmhmm. Since, you know… you'd have f-fallen for me under false pretences."

"What do you mean?"

"It's obvious what I mean. Just look at me," said Len, throwing his arms akimbo – a clear gesture that demanded Kaito's attention. "I'm a dork. I _like _doing the laundry, and I willingly watch documentaries on trains, and my dream is to one day be a detective! What's cool about that?"

"…Everything. To me, everything about you is cool."

"H-ha…" Len laughed, though Kaito wasn't sure whether there was any real humour injected into it or not. "Rin would tease you so, _so_ badly if she heard that."

"I… I-I don't care what Rin thinks. I think she's wrong." Kaito paused, breathing in deeply, trying to steady the rapid beating of his own heart. "I think you're really reliable… and fun to talk to… and you make me smile."

"I-is that really why you like me…? I-is that all?"

"Does there need to be anything more…?" Kaito blinked up at Len anxiously, his bangs falling in front of his eyes. "Is that… not good enough…?"

"N-no, it… I-I, um… I-I didn't expect…"

"You're not happy…?"

"I-it's… I-it's not that I'm not happy, r-really…! I'm just… surprised, I guess."

Well, that made sense. Kaito couldn't begrudge Len that.

Aah… Just looking at the younger boy, his face light pink, one hand ruffling those light blond spikes, that reminded Kaito a little of the spines of a stegosaurus… was enough to make Kaito's stomach flip.

T-This was stupid… He was reacting to Len like an obsessive fan. Like a starstuck, hormone-addled teenager who'd just encountered their favorite idol out in the supermarket, buying milk.

_Any second now, I'll start asking for an autograph… Aren't I supposed to be the _older_ one here…?_

Kaito sighed. If Len was uncomfortable, then he'd understand. He'd back off. It was just a stupid crush, after all.

He really had been stupid… thinking it would all work out, just like a shoujo manga.

He'd try to forget it. Push past it. Actually work on that romantic duet with Miku, rather than getting sidetracked with these vaguely defined feelings that were probably, partially, due to admiration and his own lack of self-confidence.

He needed to stop thinking about Len.

"I… I'm sorry…" said Kaito softly, drawing a pattern against the light blue duvet with the index finger of his right hand. "You can pretend I didn't say it."

"H-huh? W-what do you mean?"

Ah… T-this was not going exactly according to plan.

Kaito's attempts at doodling an invisible picture of octopus Luka came to halt. His finger froze in mid-air.

"…W-what do you mean, what?"

"I mean I, um… Ah…" Seeming aware of what he'd just said, Len turned his head away, face flushed. "I… I just mean, you don't need to apologise."

"I-I don't…?"

"Of course not. I'm not mad. In actuality I… am k-kind of flattered, you know…?"

"F-flattered?"

"Yeah. I mean, um… Rin is always calling me a dork, a-and I know I'm not super conventionally good-looking. I'm kind of short, and I do look a lot like Rin, so… Um… I-I guess, maybe, I just thought… I wasn't very appealing. Kind of like Sherlock Holmes, a-ahaha…"

"B-but Sherlock Holmes _is _appealing! He's really popular, right? Everybody thinks he's cool!"

"I-I guess so, but… in the actual stories, the other characters don't. They just think he's weird. I don't think he's well-liked at all, and… he definitely isn't attractive." Len frowned. "I always thought I was kind of like that."

"B-but you're not _weird_! And you're definitely not unattractive! I-I think you're really cute!"

"Y-you do…?"

"O-of course! Y-you're the cutest! The absolute best! If other people can't see that, then _they're_ the ones who are weird!"

"A-ahaha… W-well, um…" Len laughed awkwardly, rocking back and forth as he sat on the bed like a metronome. "T-t-thank you… K-kaito. T-That means a lot to me…"

"I-it does?"

"Y-yeah… I-It's nice being told that you're cute… by somebody who's so good-looking. A-ahaha…"

"G-good looking? I-I'm not-"

"You totally are."

Kaito looked down at himself dubiously.

"I don't know about that. I'm just an idiot…"

"Maybe so. But, you're an endearing idiot all the same. A-ahaha…" Len laughed softly, blinking up at Kaito; their eyes meeting. "I… I guess it's nice being looked up to. Even though I'm actually much shorter than you. But… you don't need to. Y-you have a lot of good qualities, too… A-and I, um… I-I like you too."

"Y-you do…?!"

"Of course. You're the person I spend the most time with, of my own free will." Len smiled, lightly tapping Kaito on the nose. "And, from that evidence, perhaps we can draw the tentative hypothesis… that you're my favourite person, too. Although picking favourites is kind of childish."

"Ha… L-len, I… I…"

Kaito floundered. He was lost for words.

Why was it, even during_ his_ confession (was that a confession?), Len had managed to sound so much cooler than he had done? He even got in a good detective metaphor there for good measure.

Kaito couldn't use metaphors. He wouldn't have known one if it had stolen all of his ice-cream from the freezer and eaten it right in front of him.

_That… wasn't fair…_

_If you keep saying things like that… I-I'm going to end up liking you even more… I-idiot…_

Was it just Kaito's imagination, or… was Len actually getting a little closer?

Instinctively, Kaito's eyes slid shut; the lashes meeting together in a flurry of dark black, like the feathers of a crow.

H-how… H-how was this happening, anyway? And over something so silly as some stolen shoujo manga, no less.

Maybe this could be another case for Kagamine Len to crack.

* * *

**a/n: **Yay, I finished it~ If you read this much, then thank you!  
I only wrote this because I was playing Project Diva with a friend, and I noticed they had the Kaito/Len duet Erase or Zero in it... And my old feelings for this cute couple were revived! Ahaha n_n'  
I guess this is also kind of like my old, oooold Kaito/Len fanfic, _Sugar Coated Accident_, in that it has vaguely similar themes and concerns (both Kaitos are worried about getting old/being incapable of singing properly anymore). But this one is a lot, lot, lot more to-the-point than my old fanfiction, with more interaction between Kaito and Len, and without any pointless stuff weighing it down. Does this mean I could have told that old story in such a few amount of words? Ahahaha... n_n;;  
I like to think my writing has improved since then. I hope it has!

Thank you! Chuu chuu! x x x


End file.
